Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: DENIS CHARLET / AFP
To attend the Rugby World Cup in France, which he himself obtained the organization as former president of the FFR, Bernard Laporte will have to take out the checkbook. Guest of the show The Legends Studio, on Europe 1, Florian Grill, the new boss of French rugby, has set his conditions so that the former coach of the XV of France and Minister of Sports can receive an invitation card. Bernard Laporte will have to pay, by September 8 – the date of the opening match – the 150,000 euros advanced by the French Rugby Federation to pay his legal fees.
Let’s rewind. On December 13, Bernard Laporte was sentenced at first instance to a two-year suspended prison sentence, a fine of 75,000 euros and a two-year ban on exercising any function related to rugby. The former minister is accused of corruption and influence peddling because of a contract signed with businessman Mohed Altrad, also president of the Montpellier club. Worth 180,000 euros, this contract was never honored by Bernard Laporte but resulted in a series of arbitrations favorable to the Altrad group, including the granting of jersey sponsorship for the XV of France or the easing of sanctions pronounced by the Disciplinary Committee of the LNR against the Montpellier club.
“In life, I like it when we settle our debts”
To pay his legal fees, Bernard Laporte received an advance from the French Rugby Federation. On July 1, during the general meeting of the FFR in Lille, Alexandre Martinez, acting president of the body, assured that the former coach should reimburse the costs in question in the event that he is sentenced on appeal. , during the trial to be held in 2024. A version contradicted on July 19 by the newspaper The Teamwho affirms, for his part, that the said conviction would not automatically lead to a return of the money, because an agreement signed between Bernard Laporte and the FFR provides for reimbursement, only after all possible legal remedies.
But this Saturday, on Europe 1, it is indeed the reimbursement of this debt which has been set as a sine qua non condition for Bernard Laporte to be invited to the high mass of world rugby. “I am an entrepreneur. In life, I like to settle his debts. So he will be very happy to be invited by us on condition that he has settled the debts he owes to French rugby”, added so said Florian Grill.
“It’s the money of everyday clubs”
The new tricolor rugby boss continues: “It’s the money of amateur rugby, it’s the money of everyday clubs. So I find it abnormal that the French Rugby Federation has paid lawyer’s fees for a trial that does not concern her”. And in the event that coach Fabien Galthié himself requests the presence of the Aveyronnais, “I would say to him ‘no problem’ but there is a prerequisite”, replies Florian Grill. Who concludes by reiterating his position: “I consider that in life, we pay our debts and then we discuss”.